I used to live on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex. With no one living above me I didn’t have to worry about being kept awake by bowling practice, or have a track team abruptly breaking into my quiet, contemplative mornings. On the flip side though, I had to learn how to strategically carry [...]
How many times have I heard, “Things are not what they seem?” It’s usually given as a warning, someone speaking it with the energy of “watch out” because you can’t know what’s coming your way! I can hear Lerch playing the organ in the background… creepy, howling, discordant chords of caution emanating from the bearer [...]
As I look back on the last four weeks of writing this series and reading each entry multiple times, one question keeps popping up: Now what? Since I have put my thoughts on paper, gained a little more clarity, expanded the capacity of my own spiritual practice of gratefulness and thankfulness, where do I go [...]
“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills ...” This is the opening sentence of the book Out of Africa, and it’s probably one of my most cherished lines from any book. From one sentence that says so little, my attention is caught and my imagination kicks in. I begin [...]
The other morning I had a meltdown. By meltdown, I mean I was crying so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. This kind of intense crying isn’t something new; I have experienced it during the most painful times of my life. The difference, though, on this morning was that I was weeping in celebration. I [...]
I have often heard the phrase, “In all things, we give thanks.” I must confess that from time to time when I have heard these words, I have silently wondered, “Really? All things?” I don’t know about anyone else, but I have been met by plenty of people and experiences where giving thanks or extending [...]
For a couple years I have had this phrase, “Between mysticism and madness I find myself.” When something stays with me this long I know it is a thread to follow, so consider this fair warning for the beginning of my “following.” […]
Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai died this past week at 71, of ovarian cancer. In the early 1970s, saw the Sahara desert creeping south into her beloved homeland, Kenya. In the previous 100 hundred years, the forests had shrunk to less than five percent of what they once were. She knew that Kenya’s entire [...]
My story of believing how I physically see myself is an old one… meaning I can’t remember when I didn’t carry “my story.” I have carried it for most of my life and it hasn’t always been kind or loving, and certainly NOT pretty. My mantra for many years when I looked in the mirror [...]
Promise me you’ll find me… I have heard this from more than one person who is dying, embracing the idea of never seeing loved ones again, yet hoping that when the other dies, they will be reunited. Promise me you’ll find me… within those 5 little words is a symphony, a song on the lips, [...]
